Organ Donation: the ignored crisis

Organ Donation: The Ignored Crisis

Max O’Connor was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis at age 7 and a half. For the next two years hopes and prayers went out for a new lung to save the young child’s life. Unfortunately, like so many other cases, a suitable lung could not be found in time, and Max died at the age of 9 during the summer of 2002. Lack of organ donation has become an upsetting statistic in the United States and is progressively becoming worse. Last year over 67,000 people died waiting for organ transplants, while the total number of fatal accidents figured more than 107,000 and suicide reached almost 27,000. Several proposals have been suggested to increase the number of participants for organ donation, including ‘presumed consent’ legislation, a mandate effect, accepting declared brain-dead patients, or using incentives in recognition for organ donation. Presumed consent and the mandate effect are the two most widely accepted proposals in the medical ...